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A health care worker expressed frustration with her
patients. “That's the second time this
week I've had to use the warning, ‘You could die!’ ... and again it didn't
work.’” A diabetic man with blood sugar
numbers off the charts keeps neglecting to take his insulin. A woman
whose EKG shows she's in the process of having a heart attack says she doesn’t feel
that bad and refuses to be admitted to the hospital.
When it comes to spiritual diagnosis and treatment, are we
much different? We think, “Meh, my sins
are not that bad. I’ll be okay.” We’re
not eager to deal with our problems, our failures, our chronic iniquities
because we’ve become accustomed to living our lives with those issues.
Jeremiah once lamented, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of
my people?” (Jeremiah 8:22) Plenty of
balm and balm-applying physicians did exist in Gilead. And plenty of gospel healing was available to
God’s people in Israel—but they did not
avail themselves of it. And they
suffered as a result.
God help us to listen when the Great Physician points out our
sins and offers treatment—the balm of his invigorating forgiveness. Jesus
said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Luke 5:31). And in reality, everyone remains continuously
in need of treatment for sin-sickness. Our
only path to health and life for our souls is in Jesus.
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